Halle (dpa/sa) - In Saxony-Anhalt, men start "puffing" on average at 17 and women at 18 - and according to the latest statistical data, 314,000 people in the state are self-confessed smokers. These are the first results of a random survey in private households (microcensus) for 2021, as the State Statistical Office announced on Friday.

Around 82 percent of smokers (258,000 people) stated that they regularly smoke tobacco products, around 18 percent (56,000 people) only occasionally. A good quarter (27.8 percent) of the men stated that they were smokers, while this proportion was just under a fifth (18.2 percent) of the women surveyed.

According to statistics for 2021, most self-confessed non-smokers in Saxony-Anhalt were between the ages of 15 and 25 (84 percent) and between 65 and 75 years (85 percent) and older (96 percent).